Sarah Wertzberger

Name: Sarah Wertzberger

Pronouns: She/Her

Studio location: Portland, OR

Website / social links: sarahwertzberger.com, @sarahwertzberger

Loom type or tool preference: Currently ~ 16 harness AVL Compu Dobby Floor loom and TC2 jacquard loom

Years weaving: 11

Fiber inclination: Like it all for different reasons depending on what I would be making. Currently using mostly cotton and polyester.

Current favorite weaving book: NUNO Visionaly Japanese Textiles

 

 

1. How did you discover weaving and was what your greatest resource as a beginner?

I re-discovered weaving in art school in Baltimore (very first encounter in the story below). In college I was a painting major but spent most of my time in the fibers department. I took the two weaving courses that were offered at that time. My greatest resource as a beginner was probably being at a school that had all the weaving equipment and learning in person with other weavers.

2. How do you define your practice – do you consider yourself an artist / craftsperson / weaver / designer / general creative or a combination of those? Is this definition important to you?

I consider myself all of the above. It depends on the context and project as to what role may be more prominent. It’s not an important distinction to me and I find that sometimes the distinctions can be limiting creatively.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

My very first encounter with weaving was when I was about 8 years old. My Mom’s friend (who attended Kansas University for weaving and owned an AVL) warped up a small table loom for me to play around on. The warp looked like hemp and I used gift wrapping ribbon as the weft. I packed the weft tightly and then used the small cloth to sew a pouch to hold teeth/money in for the tooth fairy.

4. What is your creative process, from the initial idea to the finished piece? Are there specific weave structures, looms, or fibers that are important to your process?

My process is experimental and responsive. The process starts by asking technical questions like what kind of loom I will be using? (currently mostly TC2 Jacquard or 16 harness compu dobby). Then research into techniques, envisioning the project and then designing the warp, threading and weft for the desired effect. Then preparing the warp and weft as needed. For personal projects, I don’t usually don’t draw out what the finished weaving will look like. I know I have an idea of where it will go and allow for the unplanned or change of mind to happen. Also, I like to try a few ideas on one warp set up, so I plan around many different ways I can use one warp. After weaving I take the cloth off the loom and try to figure out how to finish it. Recently I have been printing on the cloth using dye sublimation printing and then mounting the woven to wooden panels. Currently I am using a combination of cotton and polyester yarns and have been using a lot of shaded satin structures to play with the gradation from warp to weft faced structure.

 5. Does your work have a conceptual purpose or greater meaning? If so, do you center your making around these concepts?

I am interested in the disruption of visual perception through the use of color relationships and patterning. Because of my background in painting, I see a relationship between painting and weaving and sometimes feel that I am painting from within the matrix - ha! I use bright, energetic colors to evoke a sense of wonder and joy and see weaving as a mediated way of drawing or painting.

 

6. What is your favorite part of the weaving process and why? What’s your least favorite?

Least Favorite: The slowness of the process can be frustrating (I usually use fine warp and weft, so the threading and weaving go more slowly than if it were bigger/less dense). Also, the question of how to finish a textile.  By the time I am done weaving, I am eager to move onto the next idea, for that reason finishing can be difficult.

Favorite Part: Ideation and threading.  Ideation because I like riffing and the feeling of endless possibility.  Threading because it is relaxing knowing I am just following a specific pattern that I have chosen and for a moment the feeling of being in the matrix again.

7. Do you sell your work or make a living from weaving? If so, what does that look like and how has that affected your studio practice?

I sell both functional and non-functional works. The functional work has been in retail settings and craft fairs, the non-functional work has been sold through art galleries and fairs. I do not make a living from it, the money I make goes back into the work.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

I find traveling to be inspiring, getting out of your day to day setting to see unexpected combinations of color, pattern and space. Also, for weaving inspiration - the library - looking at weaving books tends to spark lots of ideas.

9. What other creatives do you admire – weavers, artists, entrepreneurs – and why?

Here is a non-exhaustive list of artists/designers I admire for many different reasons. Jonas Mekas - video diaries, making the ordinary and everyday seem magical and poetic. Nils Norman - work around public urban public spaces and their uses, incorporating utopian ideals. Andrea Zittel - the question of “how to live”. Visually speaking, painters I admire: Alfred Jensen and Xylor Jane - inventive systems of structuring paintings (with numbers - reminds me of weaving). Eduardo Paolozzi and Nathalie Du Pasquier - fun, colorful and abstract patterns and compositions, sometimes textiles. Richard Anuskiwicz and Victor Vasarely - optical illusions with pattern and color. Karl Wirsum - humorous, original surrealism. Anne Truitt - sculptures and book “Daybook”. Ed Rossbach - inventive, changing and humourous weaver and basket maker with elements of pop culture and interesting materials choices. Richard Landis - optical color mixing and patterning in weaving.

Do you have any upcoming exhibits, talks, or events the community should know about?

I am in an upcoming group show, “Sensate Objects” at the Schnieder Museum of Art in Ashland,  Oregon, Oct.7th - Oct. 10th. The show brings together the work of 13 visual artists engaged in abstract, contemporary painting and sculpture. The title reflects the accessible boundary of shape-shifting forms and materialized artworks. Using a range of historic, contemporary, and non-traditional art media such as watercolor, repurposed pipes, poured resin, papier-mâché, hand-dyed thread, gouache, digital weaving, and automotive paint, each artist charts their own personal direction.

Also, I will be a presenter in the class “Textile Topics: Color” (online), Nov. 9, 16, 30, Dec. 7, & 14 through Catskill Weaving School if anyone is interested in signing up!